Name
Charles Grimsdale
c. 1892
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
10/05/1915
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Rifleman
9927
King's Royal Rifle Corps
3rd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 51 and 53.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Hexton memorials*1
Pre War
Charles Grimsdale was said to have been born in Hexton, but it has not been possible to positively identify him on birth or census records. There is however, a Charles Grimsdale, aged 18, listed on the 1911 Census in Winchester Barracks, Hants who is a Private in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps. His birthplace is given as Hoxton, Middlesex.
He was the son of Sarah Catherine Grimsdale who gave her address on pension records as 45 Almorah Road, Islington, London. (N.B. Charles gave his place of residence as Islington (ref. Soldiers Died in the Great War).
Wartime Service
He enlisted in London and served with the 3rd Battalion, Kings Royal Rifles Corps. His regimental number suggests he enlisted in late 1910 or early 1911 and was a serving soldier at the outbreak of war. The 3rd Battalion were in India and returned to England on 19 November 1914, then travelling to their base at Winchester and landing at Le Havre, France on 20/21 December.
Charles was killed in action on 10 May 1915. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £5 and pay owing of £13 18s 3d. Pension cards exist but give no indication if a pension was paid.
*1N.B. It is possible that the place of birth, given as Hexton on SDIGW, is a mis-transcription of Hoxton, Middlesex.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild
